Larry Winget - What’s Wrong with Damn Near Everything!: How the Collapse of Core Values Is Destroying Us and How to Fix It

Cover Design: Michael J. Freeland

Cover Image: Courtesy of Randall Bohl

Copyright 2017 by Larry Winget. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Winget, Larry, author.
Title: Whats wrong with damn near everything! : how the collapse of core
values is destroying us and how to fix it / Larry Winget.
Description: Hoboken : Wiley, 2017. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2017010800 (print) | LCCN 2017033664 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781119417040 (ePDF) | ISBN 9781119417071 (epub) |
ISBN 9781119417026 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Social values. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS /
Motivational. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Careers / General.
Classification: LCC HM681 (ebook) | LCC HM681 .W56 2017 (print) |
DDC 303.3/72dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010800

If you are a fan of my work or have read any of my six best-selling books, listened to or watched my speeches or online videos, or follow me on social media, then much of what I say in this book is not going to be new to you. When it comes to some of this stuff, I am a broken record. That's one of the reasons I am called The Pitbull of Personal Development; I grab on and don't let gojust like a pitbull.

That's because what I talk about and write about comes from my core values, my experience, and my research. These things don't change much from week to week or even year to year. They don't even change too much over a lifetimesome, but not muchand that is why all of it shows up in all that I do and say and write. So, if you are a fan, you are going to see some familiar ideas. But you are going to see a lot of new stuff here, too. Grittier stuff. More I can't believe he said that stuff. At least I hope so. I didn't hold back on any of it.

On the other hand, if you are completely new to my work, you are going to find out pretty quickly that I have very strong opinions, I don't mince words, and I say exactly what I believe without apology. And you will disagree with me a lot. To that I say, good. If you disagree, then you are engaged. There is nothing better than becoming engaged by new and different ideas. Embrace it. Enjoy it. Even when you hate what I've said and end up hating me because I've said it, that's okay because you will have more clarity about what you believe by reading what I believe.

By the way, if you are one of those hypersensitive, smiley-face types who gets offended by blunt, straight talk that steps on your fragile little toes, you are in for a really rough ride.

Okaygiddy-up!

The first time I announced the title of this book to a group of people, there were a few who said, Why do you have to be so negative? Why can't you write a book called, What's right with darn near everything? I laughed. That wouldn't be my style at all. Most importantly, it's not what's right that is our problem; it's what's wrong that we aren't doing a damn thing about that is our problem. In this book, I'm not going to spend much time on what's right, instead I'm going to spend my time talking about what's wrong, why it's wrong, and what we can do about it.

Face it: things are a mess. I bet you will find it hard to argue with that statement. Our government is a mess: it's too big, it costs too much, and for the most part, it's ineffective. You can top that off with the fact that people have completely lost confidence in it and the politicians who run it. Recent polling says that 68 percent of people believe we are headed in the wrong direction.

It's not just government; businesses are a mess, too. Many have forgotten that businesses exist to fill a need, solve a problem, serve their customers well, and be profitable while doing it. A strong work ethic in employees has become a thing of the past. Too many leaders confuse leadership with popularity.

Families are no exception, either. Too many parents are indulgent, overprotective, and don't communicate or teach morals, ethics, or values. They are raising narcissistic brats who have no respect for others or for themselves. And while the economy is a mess in our country, it's simply a reflection of the disastrous way we handle our own money as individuals and in our families. People spend money they don't have buying things they don't need to impress people they don't like.

Individuals blame instead of taking responsibility. They rationalize their behavior. They are personally offended by almost everything even when it has nothing to do with them. They demand things, believing they are entitled to them instead of earning them. We even have a huge segment of society that has moved back in with their parents instead of sucking it up and figuring out how to make it on their own. They put more thought and more money into their grande half-caf Mochachino Frappuccino Crapacino than they do their savings accounts. They distract themselves with social media instead of working. I could go on and on and on, and every one of you reading this could add 50 more statements that would be true about what a mess people have become.

Education might be the area where it is the worst. College campuses are now full of safe zones where grown men and women can run and hide to protect themselves from the hurtful words of others. And yes, 18 years old is grown. We have 18-year-old men and women dying while defending our country so I consider 18-year-olds grown. Colleges have become bastions of uber-liberal ideas that charge exorbitant amounts of money to nurture oversensitivity instead of challenging thinking and encouraging growth.

Some of us wake up every day and read or watch the news and barely recognize the world we